Well, we learned about the hostiles, the pruge etc. (Ok, many of you people learned it before I did, but play along for now)
Here is what I think about the groups and the chronology of the island.

First, there were the original inhabitants of the island. These people have been on the island for a long long time. They built the four toed statue (maybe to one of their gods, it was like a sentinel watching over the island), and the ruins we saw in S2 finale.

Then, Dharma Intitative found the island and decided that it would be a good base for their work. But the original inhabitants and Dharma came to a disagreement and fights started. Dharma named the originals as "The Hostiles" and the war between the two groups was called "The Purge"

The QUARANTINE inscrïption on boths sides of the hatch doors served two purposes. People recruited by Dharma (who were unaware of the nature of the original inhabitants and thought they were just Hostiles) were reluctant to leave the hatches, thus uninterrupted work in hatches was ensured. Secondly, The Hostiles were led to think that there was some kind of sickness in the hatches and were reluctant to enter them.

Now there is a question. Are Ben and friends Dharma or not? They are scientists so it is plausible that they are Dharma. Yet there is another possibility. When Dharma failed, a "great person" (who was a member of the original Dharma group) thought that it would be a shame to let all that work go for nothing. He decided to recruit like-minded scientist and ordinary men to continue from where Dharma failed. So, Ben and friends could be these people.

Then of course there are the passengers of flight 815.

So you think the Hostiles won the "war", and either all of Dharma died or they are now mixed with the Hostiles?
I`m still hoping it will turn out that Danielle is either a member of Dharma or the Hostiles

I think Dharma "won" hence the name "The Purge". They forced the Hostiles to go underground.
(At this point I'm not sure to which group the barefoot people Jin and Eko saw in the jungle belong to)

Yeah, it does kinda seem that the Hostiles were purged... had Dharma lost, I don't see why Kelvin woulda been there, why Radzinksy would have, why the Swan was functional and operating, the Pearl, the Flame, etc.

But where have they gone now?

I think if the Others are Dharma that would explain why they continue to use their logo everywhere - if they had fought against Dharma in a horrible war you would think they would try to remove the symbol from as much stuff as possible, instead of constantly being reminded of what happened.

I keep retyping different posts in here cuz my mind is jumping around LOL. As of now, I don't even know what to go with from the different things I was typing.

However, I want to bring something in here mentioned on the blast door map - I just need to go check exactly what it says before I mention it.

Okay, on the blast door map, it mentions an incident in 1985 between MDG and AH. It has been confirmed by the Lost puzzles that AH is Alvar Hanso.

MDG maybe being M___ DeGroot? Algo suggested in an IM that maybe M is Him?

It also mentions that the med hatch was believed to have been abandoned after that incident in '85. Yet we see it being used and functional in Maternity Leave, and by the Others...

So, maybe a falling out between Dharma and Hanso... I'm trying to work out in my mind which of Dharma or Hanso would now be funding/in charge/whatever over the Others, should they be seperate from the Hostiles, but I'm not sure yet, lol.

I'm starting to wonder if the Hostiles are indeed not the Others, but some other group we have yet to encounter.

Also Tom made a reference to the polar bears to Sawyer - which would imply that he was around when the bears were still in the Hydra complex?

If Ben was telling the truth when he said he had been there all his life, why would he and his people need to use the Dharma stations if they weren`t in fact Dharma?

Good point about the medical hatch ILE - actually most of the Dharma hatches seems to work and be staffed today. Which is strange if all of them had been abandoned years ago. Mikhail was still in the Flame, Kelvin was still pushing the button, we`ve seen the Others at the Hydra, and the medical hatch in "Maternity Leave".  

ETA: and "the barracks"/Othersville - it`s drawn on the Dharma maps too aren`t they? The sonic fence looked very "dharma" too LOL  

--Last edited by Rainflower on 2007-03-18 18:15:16 --

Yesh, Tom!! Tom, imo, has given off a Dharma impression for a while. He was possessive over the Swan, telling Locke he had no business going in. And the polar bear thing you mentioned.

Why has Dharma held on to the Swan station? 1) because they could, 2) because it pisses the Hostiles off.
You might also be asking why the US holds onto Guantanamo Bay, substitute Castro for Hostiles (or not) and you have the same answer.
The Swan has scientific importance that they might want to revisit someday. I would also agree that Tom is a good candidate for being a former Dharma employee, maybe Mikhail as well.
Danielle keep saying that the Hostiles only tell lies...She's quite the authority for someone who has never bumped into them much.
I still maintain the Hostiles = The Others. They may have also recruited some Dharma members.  I wouldn't be surprise if De Groot was unhappy with the Dharma rules and recruited the indiginous Hostiles to help him take over the island from Dharma.

Then we have the hinted about "underground" people. Perhaps some indiginous people who chose not to follow De Groot and were outcast by their own people, The Hostiles. Or maybe just experiments that went wrong.

Personally I think Danielle is Dharma, and either doesn't remember or is choosing not to tell.  Either could be the case as she is "The Crazy French Lady"

Quote :

Algo wrote : (At this point I'm not sure to which group the barefoot people Jin and Eko saw in the jungle belong to)

They don't appear to fit in well with either group. I'm leaning toward a third group, maybe a fringe group of Dharma or the Hostiles (or both) that is living in a more primitive matter now, not at the barracks with the Hostiles and not as the Dharma people would have before the purge.

Quote :

Algo wrote : I think Dharma "won" hence the name "The Purge". They forced the Hostiles to go underground. (At this point I'm not sure to which group the barefoot people Jin and Eko saw in the jungle belong to)

Don't forget Tom's disguise and Ben's dismay over him removing it. The "Others" were big on appearing different than what they really were.

Yeah, the disguises and the fake village where they kept Walt and Michael may mean that the barefoot people also were them in their disguises.

But why fake a third group of people that doesn't exist?

They are weird enough without a disguise. I just don't get that disguise thing either. Unless they were trying to pretend they were the third group that DOES exist?

Maybe they were trying to pretend to be another exsisting group, but I think it was just part of their elaborate plan to make them seen less intimidating.

I was reading J Wood's book over the weekend and it reminded me that when we saw Tom in the jungle with Sawyer and Locke and Jack, he quoted Alvar Hanso "Since the dawn of time...."  So, like ILE said, he seems pretty Dharma, or at least Hanso.  I don't know exactly what to make of it, though.

ETA: As far as the beard thing, the Others seem to be all about eliciting reactions from people in every interaction--who knows what purpose it serves?  I'm guessing we'll find out sooner or later  

--Last edited by WayOffCourse on 2007-03-19 20:00:58 --

Quote :

Jack It's an aquarium. Juliet Excuse me? Jack This things for what, sharks? Juliet Dolphins, too. Jack We're under water aren't we? Juliet Yes. Jack Is this one of their stations? The Dharma Initiative? Juliet They called it the Hydra. Jack So you people are just... whatever's leftover of them. Juliet Well, that was a long time ago. It doesn't matter who we were. It only matters who we are.

So, Jules knows the Hydra's uses... if the Others aren't Dharma and hate them, would they tell her? She's not been there long.

But I find it interesting that she says "they called it the Hydra" but the when he asks if the Others are just Dharma remnants, "it doesn't matter who we were", gives me the impression that they once were part of Dharma...  

--Last edited by ILovedEko on 2007-03-20 08:05:05 --

Me too Littlet that is how I take her remark.

But if she wanted Jack to know that they were Dharma, then why wouldn't she of said that, instead of "implying" that? Writers often give the actors dialoge that is meant to take the viewers down the wrong path, to the wrong conclusion, let them connect dots that should never be connected so they can come back with a surprise fact later on.